Ugin’s Insight 2 – Korlash, Heir to Blackblade EDH Deck

Hello readers welcome back to the second installment of Ugin’s Insight! This is the new article series that features YOU and YOUR EDH deck in an interview style format. If you would like to have your deck featured on Ugin’s Insight, it’s easy! Simply go to the MagicEDH.com EDH Deck Interview Page and fill out the form.

Before we begin, I want to thank all of you for the overwhelming positive response to this article series. Shortly after posting Volume 1 on the EDH Subreddit, I received several form submissions for deck interviews. I will definitely get to each and every one! The current plan is for a new article every SUNDAY with maybe a bonus article or two throughout the week. Now then. Let’s get started!

Korlash, Heir to Blackblade EDH Deck by Theophilus

About Theophilus: Today’s article features an interview with EDH Reddit user /u/Theophilus as he introduces his Korlash, Heir to Blackblade Commander Deck. Theophilus has been playing EDH since about 2011 and lives in Rochester, NY. He currently has 19 EDH decks and on his way to building a deck of each possible color combination. Left remaining are Temur, mono-green, Abzan, Gruul, Selesnya, Izzet, Simic and colorless. His very first EDH deck was Gisela, Blade of Goldnight with an extra combat phase and double strike theme. Unfortunately, the mana base was so slow that it turned him off of Boros for awhile. Theophilus currently does not play other formats (although he is taking a look at Modern). Commander allows him to shore up his weaknesses as a player by involving politics. He finds the card interactions in EDH are just so much more interesting. If Theophilus had to pick a color or color combination to be a favorite, he would have to choose Orzhov, admiring the beautiful things that can happen by mixing Black and White together.

About the Deck: The name of this deck is The Blackest Knight. Theophilus has been playing this deck for a little less than a year. The deck itself is of average difficulty and can be piloted by anyone with a firm grasp of how to play Commander. This commander brew is somewhat built around it’s general. It works better having access to Korlash, but can still be relevant in a game without him. This EDH Deck matches the power level of Theophilus’ playgroup and they are definitely cool with it when he shuffles this mono-black build up for a game.

Here is a few more insightful facts about the deck:

This deck is versatile for Multiplayer or 1v1 Commander games

Follows the Normal EDH Rules Committee Banlist

Built to be Semi-Competitive

Theophilus’ Korlash Deck is a Voltron deck

Before we begin the interview, let’s take a look at the Korlash, Heir to Blackblade EDH Decklist!

Korlash EDH Deck Interview with Theophilus

Theophilus: I picked mono black because I’m trying to build a deck for each color combination, and Korlash seemed like the blackest of commanders.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Give us a Brief History of this deck and how it came about.

Theophilus: This deck started with the Ob Nixilis precon. I ended up using that as a shell to build an (awful) Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder/discard deck. I got sick of durdling with Sahr (and my friends hated playing against it when the discard worked) and stopped playing the deck entirely. Then I happened to click the random commander button on EDHRec and rediscovered Korlash. He seemed like he had a lot of potential, so I retooled Sahr into Korlash. The deck is so much more fun now.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Are there any specific strategies when playing the deck?

Theophilus: It’s important to maintain a close eye on your life total. The deck doesn’t mind trading some life for card draw, but if you get greedy it can lead to a very short game.

In terms of politics, people sometimes underestimate how fast Korlash can get big. Early on it’s not a bad idea to “help out” by killing the other threatening players, maybe the control/combo guy. People also seriously underestimate Korlash’s regeneration. It’s important to leave up enough mana to regenerate him on your opponent’s turns.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Are there any specific strategies when playing the deck?

Theophilus: It’s important to maintain a close eye on your life total. The deck doesn’t mind trading some life for card draw, but if you get greedy it can lead to a very short game.

In terms of politics, people sometimes underestimate how fast Korlash can get big. Early on it’s not a bad idea to “help out” by killing the other threatening players, maybe the control/combo guy. People also seriously underestimate Korlash’s regeneration. It’s important to leave up enough mana to regenerate him on your opponent’s turns.

MTGCasualPlay.com: What are some of the deck’s strengths?

Theophilus: The deck has answers to almost everything, so there isn’t anything that it really can’t play against, but its best match ups are against Aggro and other Voltron decks.

MTGCasualPlay.com: What are some of the Weaknesses of the Deck?

Theophilus: Being monoblack, the deck has a somewhat rough time against Enchantress builds, or decks that don’t rely very heavily on creatures like combo/control.

MTGCasualPlay.com: What are some of the more Powerful cards or interactions of the deck?

One of my favorite things to do is pantsing up Korlash with Nightmare Lash, Lashwrithe and/or Strata Scythe, and then Mutilate-ing the board. Trading a pants-up Korlash for life and draw is pretty nice with Disciple of Bolas, as well.

Praetor’s Grasp, Sadistic Sacrament, and Nightmare Incursion are super powerful cards, and can really help against enchantment/artifact/combo/control heavy decks.

Sword of the Animist on Korlash is awesome. Especially with any of the other equipments that care about Swamps.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Are there any Unique or Underrated cards that you play in this deck?

Theophilus: I think Herald of Leshrac, Helldozer and Fleshwrither are all cards that don’t see much play. I don’t see them much in other EDH decks, and only Helldozer is listed on EDHrec.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Do you have a Wish List of Cards that you would like to add?

Theophilus: While I’ve included Nirkana Revenant and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in the official decklist, they aren’t currently in the deck. I need to acquire them. Urborg is currently in Athreos, and I don’t yet have a Revenant.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Are there cards missing because they didn’t work or were too Powerful? What happened?

Theophilus: Promise of Power got cut, along with a few other life pay cards, just because the deck was blowing through all of its life really quickly and it was costing it the game.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Why would I want to play this deck?

Theophilus: People underestimate Korlash. They read through him and discount his */* = to your swamps and his regeneration, allowing him to to be a huge beater with tremendous staying power. Ironically, one of the reasons people discount him is because his Grandeur ability doesn’t work in EDH. By the time they realize how good he is, they’re probably dead.

MTGCasualPlay.com: Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your EDH Deck. Is there anything else you would like to include before we wrap things up?

Theophilus: This is probably my best, most consistent, mono-colored deck. Jazal is good, but lacks some staying power, and Talrand is pretty good, but can get overwhelmed and rushed. Korlash just powers through.

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